Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead

[Tom Zurinskas]

Yaa.  The m-w.com speakers sometimes disagree with the m-w.com phonetic notation.  And for the better, I think.  In rewriting English phonetically based on the speakers of talking dictionaries, I most often think they say it correctly while the notation is off.

I think there is some UK accent influx to m-w.com, which there should not be in any dictionary with "Webster" in it's title unless specified for UK with UK spellings.  Note the "h-drop" in forehead.  I'd say UK.

Worst case for m-w.com (a great free resource I should add) is words starting with "ex".  These are notated with "i" and spoken as such.  As I hear newscasters talk on USA TV, I think they and we all mostly say short e not short i for all these words.  Hear "extreme" for both UK and USA at thefreedictionary.com.  (right not m-w.com sounds don't play for me)

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
see truespel.com phonetic spelling

>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "David A. Daniel"
> Subject: Re: Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My fifth grade teacher, this in Southern California, circa 1960, told us that only ignorant people said for-hed, that proper pronuncation was for'ed. My fifth grade teacher was an idiot. However, here's a bit of linguistic schizophrenia for you. Merriam-Webster lists for'ed before for-hed and has two little speaker thingies to click on, one for each pronunciation. But the order is reversed. The first speaker thingy says for-hed, and the second says for'ed, the opposite of what they show in text.
> DAD
>
>
>
> an. Doctor recommended.
> www.exergen.com
>
> * Main Entry: fore·head
> * Pronunciation: \ˈfär-əd, ˈfȯr-; ˈfȯr-ˌhed
>
>
> ____________________________________________
> We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Tom Zurinskas
> Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 6:24 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Forrid for forehead? Not in USA I would think. Sounds UK. They do a lot of word squeezing over there, dropping "h" "r" "c" and other sounds and syllables in words. My least favorite is "fat" for "fact".
>
> Down south USA "head" is two syllables in some places. HEY-yud ~heyud, expanding it one syllable. I don't think UK does expansion.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> see truespel.com
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
>> Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 22:46:43 -0400
>> From: hwgray at GMAIL.COM
>> Subject: Re: Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>
>>
>> Exactly. That's where I learned the pronunciation in the first place.
>> Needless to say, we're not the only two people in the English-speaking
>> world who learned this rhyme as children. Nevertheless, after people
>> learn how to read, many of them switch to the spelling- pronunciation.
>> And, if a peron grows up in a 4head-speaking family, it may very well
>> be the case that, for such a person, "forrid" does not have a
>> real-world referent.
>>
>> I once discussed this with a 4head-speaker. She argued that "4head'
>> has always been the proper pronunciation. The pronunciation "forrid"
>> is merely a distortion necessary to make "forehead" rhyme with
>> "horrid."
>>
>> Well, that's a reanalysis of the history of the pronunciations that's
>> impossible to refute in a casual conversation.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Why, it must, for the rhyme to work:
>> <
>>> There was a little girl
>>> Who had a little curl
>>> Right in the middle of her forehead.
>>> And when she was good,
>>> She was very, very good
>>> And when she was bad she was horrid.
>>>
>>> Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
>>> Waynesville, MO
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Wilson Gray"
>>> To:
>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 8:19 PM
>>> Subject: Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead
>>>
>>>
>>> I notice that "Ducky" (David McCallum) of NCIS properly :-) rhymes
>>> "forehead" with "horrid." Of course, he's even older, by four years,
>>> than I am.
>>> --
>>> -Wilson
>>> –––
>>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>>> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>> -----
>>> -Mark Twain
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> –––
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -----
>> -Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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